[Of obscure origin.]
1. trans. In pa. pple. a. Of things: To be scattered over a comparatively wide surface or area.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., I. iii. 22. He hath a third [ship] at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures hee hath, squandred abroad.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett. (1650), I. 267. The present condition of the Jews,… now grown contemptible, and strangely squandered up and down the world. Ibid., II. 20. In many thousand Islands that lye squandred in the vast Ocean.
1847. Halliwell, s.v., ‘His family are all grown up, and squandered about the country,’ i.e. settled in different places.
1882. C. Elton, Orig. Eng. Hist., ix. 223. The fallen timber obstructed the streams, the rivers were squandered in the reedy morasses.
b. Brought to disintegration or dissolution.
1610. Gaultier’s Rodomontados, D j b. She shall no sooner be falne downe there, but she shall be squandered into dust & pow[d]er.
1653. H. More, Antid. Ath., II. vii. § 4. And so they would rot upon the Ground before they be spent, or be squander’d away in a moment of Time.
2. To drive off in various directions; to cause to scatter or disperse.
1657. Sanderson, Serm. (1674), 37. To tend his Forces … against the strongest Troops of the enemy; and to squander and break through the thickest ranks.
1666. Dryden, Ann. Mirab., lxvii. They charge, recharge, and all along the sea They drive and squander the huge Belgian fleet. Ibid. (1697), Æneid, II. 571. The troops we squander’d first, again appear From sev’ral quarters, and inclose the rear.
1818. Wilbraham, Chesh. Gloss., s.v., To squander a covey of partridges.
1891. Atkinson, Last of Giant Killers, 96. The stones that had been laid in course, had been squandered about anyhow.
b. Mining (See quot.)
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 233. Squander, to beat or kill (extinguish) an underground fire.
3. To spend (money, goods, etc.) recklessly, prodigally or lavishly; to expend extravagantly, profusely or wastefully. Also const. on.
The most common usage. Freq. since 1810.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 45. Fooles shall squander in an houre, all the auarice of their ambitious wise Auncesters.
1623. Cockeram, I. Squander, lauishly to consume ones estate.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 1638. The cruel wretch, Who … has squandered vile, Upon his scoundrel train, what might have cheered A drooping family of modest worth.
1783. Burke, Rep. Aff. India, Wks. 1842, II. 33. The cultivators … would squander part of the money, and not be able to complete their engagements to the full.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 323. Of the great sums … part had been embezzled by cunning politicians, and part squandered on buffoons and foreign courtesans.
1881. W. G. Marshall, Through Amer., i. 10. Owing to the disgraceful peculations of the Tammany ring, headed by the famous ‘Boss’ Tweed, millions of dollars (some say fourteen) have been squandered over the work.
absol. 1710. Swift, Change in Queen Anne’s Ministry, Wks. 1841, I. 283. He was grown needy by squandering upon his vices.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, ix. To squander with one hand till they have been fain to beg with the other.
b. With away.
1611. Cotgr., Fricasser,… to spend, or squander all away.
1661. Verney Mem. (1907), II. 170. I have noe great mind to squander away £100.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 264. Don Philippo … soon squandered away two or three Thousand Crowns, that were lent him.
a. 1763. W. King, Polit. & Lit. Anecd. (1819), 17. The public money is squandered away in pensions.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 204. Our schemes … will … squander away the public money upon unnecessary projects.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xx. IV. 489. Neale,… after squandering away two fortunes, had been glad to become groom porter at the palace.
1885. Miss Braddon, Wyllard’s Weird, I. i. 19. He squandered every shilling of his small patrimony away.
4. To spend or employ (time) wastefully; to waste. Also with away.
1693. Stillingfl., Serm. (1698), III. x. 409. How much time is squandred away in Vanity and Folly?
a. 1721. Prior, Vicar of Bray & Sir T. Moor, 232. Alas how we squander away our Days without doing our Duty.
1757. Chesterf., Lett., cccxxiii. (1792), IV. 99. Have I employed my time, or have I squandered it?
1842. Borrow, Bible in Spain, i. They considered the time occupied in learning as so much squandered away.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), I. 110. Such time I’ve squandered o’er the history.
5. To spend profusely, without securing adequate return; to use in a wasteful manner.
1716–7. Bentley, Serm., xi. 389. If he squander his Talents in Luxury.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 1, ¶ 11. No words are to be squandered in declaration of esteem, or confessions of inability.
1795. Burke, Regic. Peace (1892), 89. If they were to send us far from the aid of our King,… to squander us away in the most pestilential climates.
1842. Lover, Handy Andy, xlvii. The extraordinary capers Tom cut on the occasion, and the unheard-of lies he squandered.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. xi. 625. The resources of the country were squandered to an unprecedented extent.
1900. G. T. Stokes, Worthies Irish Church, xii. 232. Much valuable enthusiasm was squandered.
6. intr. To roam about; to wander.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., I. 131/2. But at last (I squandring vp and downe) … I happened into a Caue.
1850. Bentley’s Misc., Jan., 37. The way they squander about in pairs and single ones is edifying.
7. To disperse in various directions; to scatter.
1823. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 367. Each shifted for himself, and left his brethren to squander and do the same as they could.
1827. Scott, in Croker Papers (1884), I. xi. 319. The disposition seems as if some Yankee general had given the command, ‘Split and Squander.’
1861. F. Metcalfe, Oxonian in Iceland, 156. His reverence continues his mad career among the horses, who squander right and left in alarm.
